The Workers' Opposition, during the discussion while defending its anarcho-syndicalist position, attempted to rely on Section 5 of the Economic Programme of the RCP, devoted to the role of trade unions, giving it an incorrect interpretation (see in detail "Initial Draft of the Resolution of the Tenth Congress of the RCP on the Syndicalist and Anarchist Deviation in Our Party," Collected Works, vol. XXVI, pp. 262–264).

The point 7 of the resolution on party unity provided for the possibility of expelling from the Central Committee a member thereof, upon receipt of 2/3 of the votes of all members of the CC, the Central Control Commission, and candidates to membership in the Central Committee.